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Well now, this is odd.
The Fruilmodel tracks received two baths in Blacken-It. The original concoction must have been off because the reaction was pretty weak and much of the original metal color was still visible. I let the tracks soak for maybe 20 minutes and dry overnight. I followed up with a liberal wash of Burnt Sienna to create a rusty look and Raw Umber to tone the orange down.
That was last week. Today I sit down to start some building and I fnd this. What do you nake of it?
Things have gone from bad to worse. What ever reaction caused the odd patina appears to have affected the wire that holds the links together. One after another the wire failed until I had a pile of about a dozen short links of useless track.
I'd say something used has a negative reaction with the materials it is being applied to. Either that or the product isn't a true solution and its has seen a separation and breakdown of its ingredients from possible temperature extremes. Either that or a bad batch that wasn't mixed with the correct formulations. It almost looks like the patina that copper gets after it sit in the elements and oxidizes.
Gerald "Hawkeye" Voigt
http://hawkeyes-squawkbox.com/
"Its not the workbench that makes the model, it is the modeler at the workbench."
I believe the blackening solution is a mild acid and it would appear that the initial chemical reaction never stopped and remained active after you had applied the washes...the patina reminds me almost of corroded battery leads and it probably continued to work on the pins until it ate through them or fatally weakened them to the point of failure. Sorry to hear about it regardless as it looks like the tracks are now a total loss except for perhaps junk/spare usage for a dio or kit.
BP Models
The Mad KlingonI let the tracks soak for maybe 20 minutes and dry overnight.
Did you rinse the tracks well with clean water before setting them aside to dry? If not, it's likely that the chemical reaction would have continued, especially in the recesses/connecting pin channels, where it would take longer to dry, weakening/dissolving the connecting pin wires.
If you can remove the remaining bits of wire and clean out the holes, (and rinse well in clean water) you should be able to replace the wires, either with new wire, brass rod of suitable thickness or dressmaking pins.
Now I would recommend that you give them a soak in a glass of water that has a level teaspoon of Baking Soda dissolved in it to neutralize what ever they make this stuff out of. I didn't do this on my first set of tracks and one day a pin fell out and the reason was the pin was all but eaten up so i've done the soda treatment ever since and no more problems.
Rinse and scrub in hot tap water to remove the baking soda residue then let dry.
Kinda late but it might help even now for you.
Tony lee
Shoot Low Boys They're Ridin Ponys
wbill76 is right. It is a mild acid that will oxidize metal to its rust color. I refer to rust here as the result of this oxidation. Different metals has different oxidation color. Copper will give a green oxide, iron can be orange to red and aluminum is white. It could be that the track shoes has some form of coating during its molding process (like resin AMs) that was not cleaned. This resulted in the acid not acting on these uncleaned shoes. The wire as wbill76 mentioned was continously acted upon by the blackening solution causing it to break. Im sorry for your predicament.
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